"California ranks near the bottom of the states, along with Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the biennial test in math and English language arts known as the “nation’s report card.”
So it’s hardly a surprise that students in Fresno Unified and Los Angeles Unified did worse than peers in most of the 18 large urban districts that participated in a NAEP math study released this week. What’s disappointing is by how much."
Fresno’s math score of 219 for fourth graders in 2009 was higher than only two of the 18 urban districts (Detroit and Cleveland) that participated in the NAEP exam. Los Angeles, tied with Baltimore and Chicago with 222 ponts, was not much higher. The average for the 18 districts, which included New York City, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit and Miami, was 231; the national average was significantly higher – 239 on the 500 point scale.
Eighth grade results weren’t much better: The 258 points for LA and Fresno were behind 10 of the 18 – and far behind the urban average of 271 and national average of 282.
There was also good news. The 280 points for eighth graders in San Diego in 2009, the third California district in the study, was higher than the urban average of 271, right behind the national average of 282, and higher than every urban district except for Charlotte and Austin.
So it’s hardly a surprise that students in Fresno Unified and Los Angeles Unified did worse than peers in most of the 18 large urban districts that participated in a NAEP math study released this week. What’s disappointing is by how much."
Fresno’s math score of 219 for fourth graders in 2009 was higher than only two of the 18 urban districts (Detroit and Cleveland) that participated in the NAEP exam. Los Angeles, tied with Baltimore and Chicago with 222 ponts, was not much higher. The average for the 18 districts, which included New York City, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit and Miami, was 231; the national average was significantly higher – 239 on the 500 point scale.
Eighth grade results weren’t much better: The 258 points for LA and Fresno were behind 10 of the 18 – and far behind the urban average of 271 and national average of 282.
There was also good news. The 280 points for eighth graders in San Diego in 2009, the third California district in the study, was higher than the urban average of 271, right behind the national average of 282, and higher than every urban district except for Charlotte and Austin.